Among Riverfusion's more than 3,000 attendees were Jennifer Malitsch and Becky Plebani, juniors at Saucon Valley High School.

Malitsch said Riverfusion offered heavy-metal music, a sound hard to come by at Musikfest. Malitsch and Plebani also liked that several of their classmates were playing in the band Impulse.

"All the bands are really talented," Malitsch said. "It's a good activity for kids." The event was held on Sand Island in Bethlehem.

Jason Dectis, a Liberty High School senior and Riverfusion's executive treasurer, said, "We're doing a lot better than expected." The event received $53,000 in cash and in-kind services from businesses and benefactors, including Marlene Fowler, according to Karen Dolan, a Liberty English teacher and event organizer.

Dolan said the non-alcoholic Riverfusion reminded her of the musical events of the 1970s when she was growing up in New Jersey. "It's not about ticket sales," Dolan said. "It's about the joy. I look around and see people smiling."

Julia Rockwell, a Liberty sophomore, got to the festival early to watch her friend's band, Porcelain John, play before the concert's main attractions, Aztek Trip and Rusted Root, took over the main stage.

Festival organizers said they were hoping to attract mostly 15- to 25-year-olds with the bands they chose, and events like extreme wrestling, wall climbing, and skateboarding, biking and break dancing exhibitions.

Destiny Supra, 12, of Harrison-Morton Middle School in Allentown, tried all the activities, including scaling the 35-foot high inflated "rock' climb.

Dale Berger and his wife, Beverly, were the few members of the over-30 crowd who braved the hot sun and arrived early.

The Bergers drove into the area from Lewisburg on Saturday for a wedding, and stayed to listen to his son Jason's band, Poppy Cock Babble.

"I see all these kids walking around, and they look like freaks to me," said Berger, 58, who prefers the country music he can find at larger events like Musikfest. "But here, I'm the freak. This kind of music isn't my style."

Sara Hkrach, a junior at Liberty, noted that a diverse group of students showed up, and everyone was finding something that interested them.

Hkrach, who has Cookie Monster blue hair and was wearing a necklace of safety pins, sat on a concrete wall with her friends, who occasionally got a game of Hacky Sack going while listening to Royal Noise Brigade on the second stage.

"I'm not really into the bands they have at Musikfest," she said. "But I like the music here, and there is a cool mix of people."